It seems my palate is back in order, I’m no longer getting that metallic taste from every cigar any more. I’m glad that’s over. The last time I had a similar experience was after I had a flu shot, subsequently I’ve never gotten another flu shot! So to celebrate I smoked some great cigars this week. In all honesty, I like smoking great cigars much more than I like smoking crappy cigars. I have a few in the que that I’ve been putting off smoking because I haven’t been in the mood to “take one for the team” lately. Maybe I’ll smoke one today as I’m feeding branches into the wood chipper. The first cigar on my list today is the Cuenca 5 Anniversary box pressed torpedo. This cigar commemorates the fifth anniversary of the Cuenca Cigars store in Hollywood, FL, and came in three sizes, Robusto, Toro and this 7″ x 54 torpedo. These were released in 2013, so this one had 2 years of age, and looking at the CuencaCigars.com website, they appear to be sold out of all vitolas. Made by at the AJ Fernandez factory, this cigar had a great burn and draw and was full of flavor and was really enjoyable. The high priming Jalapa wrapper leaf gave it a nice sweetness that went along with a nice little spice. I really look forward to seeing what the folks at Cuenca come up with in a couple years when they turn ten!
Next up I came across a Nording 50th Anniversary Toro from Rocky Patel. Somehow I ended up with quite a selection of various Rocky Patel cigars, mostly toros, and I can’t for the life of me recall where they came from. I suppose my only recourse is to smoke them. So this cigar had a beautiful Ecuador Habano wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It was a very pleasant, well balanced cigar that I enjoyed quite a bit. I may have had something else from the Nording line in the past, and I think I remember enjoying it. I’m certainly not a pipe guy, way too much work in that hobby, but I know that this line is named for Erik Nording, a famed pipe maker and tobacco blender, and this cigar was for his 50th year in the tobacco business. It’s a fitting tribute as it was a very good cigar.
Friday evening we stopped in at our local Cigar Cigars shop, about 2 miles down the road. They were having a My Father event, and Tom, our local rep, was there. Cigar Cigars is a South Eastern PA chain of cigar stores that has been buying up cigar stores in the area for the last few years and I think they are up to ten or eleven stores now, from Freehold, NJ to Lancaster, PA. Before we moved I could have driven 7 miles in three different directions and be at a Cigar Cigars shop. I’m now a little farther from two of those shops, but could easily be at either one in fifteen minutes. Anyway, we stopped in and grabbed some of the El Centurion and Flor de Las Antillas cigars and lit up an El 
Centurion Toro. This line was originally issues as a Limited Edition in 2007, which I never had the pleasure of smoking, so I can make no comparison. What I can say is that the current El Centurion (which has a band with a great big “C” on it which must stand for CigarCraig, right?) was a very well behaved cigar. Solidly medium bodied with a nice little spice one would expect from this manufacturer. I enjoyed the crap out of the cigar while my wife and I relaxed in the lounge and took in the ambiance of the store. It was great seeing Tom again, and Steve, Barry and Tia made us feel very welcome and comfortable in the shop.
Yesterday, after toiling in the yard on a beautiful spring Saturday with temps in the 70s, I picked out an Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Presidente for my evening walk. This came from a business associate who sent me some great Fuente cigars a few months ago. I think the last time I smoked one of these was shortly after they expanded the line back in the late 90s. It seems to me they added the Presidente, Double Robusto and the No.4 to the Robusto, No. 3 and No 2 sizes to round out the line. I have fond memories of smoking the robustos in Vegas in ’97, but I think it was a dinner at the old Sam Adams Brewpub in Philadelphia where I smoked this particular size while meeting a friend for dinner, then running into some other friends and smoking the evening away with them. Impressively, this Don Carlos tasted just the same as I remember. It’s amazing that they can maintain consistency like that over a fifteen year period. The burn was absolutely perfect, it had a nice flat coal like I enjoy and the draw was perfect as well. I love the unique sweetness that that Cameroon wrapper gives this cigar, and it had Camerooniness like crazy. This is a classic cigar, one that every humidor should have for just that moment when you want something you know is going to deliver. That is, assuming the flavor profile of the Fuente Don Carlos is up your alley, if you don’t like it, then it doesn’t need to be in your humidor! Point is, I like it, it tastes great and brings back a lot of memories.
That’s it for today, I need to get out to the yard and finish cleaning some stuff up. My back doesn’t want to, but it needs to get done. I may have to get the lawn mower out this week! I may post a contest this week too, so stay tuned. Thank you all, once again for reading along, enjoy your day. Until the next time,
CigarCraig
